Hiding In Holiday Shadows: Unwrapping The Environmental Toll of Holiday Consumerism

The holiday season is officially over with Valentine’s Day waving the last goodbye. From November to February, the holiday season dawns upon us, really kicking off at Halloween. While nonofficial and nonreligious holidays such as Thanksgiving, Black Friday and the New Year are celebrated widely, so are cultural and religious holidays. 

While religions do lose followers every year, the holidays do not necessarily. For instance, Christmas is no longer celebrated strictly by Bible-based religious followers but is enjoyed by many people globally who do not partake in the religion. As of 2019, 93% of Americans celebrated Christmas while only 65% claim to be religious. This means that there has been a social shift from celebrating the original meaning behind this holiday to spending time with friends and family and gift-giving. In fact, many other winter holidays such as Diwali, Kwanzaa and Hanukkah have an emphasis or aspect of gift giving involved. 

Because gift-giving plays an important role during these times, the economy, environment and people’s bank accounts are dramatically affected. 

Companies mass produce holiday decorations, foods/candies and a wide variety of merchandise. In the United States, it is rare to find a store that does not participate in holiday sales and themed merchandise. From October to February, there is a constant restock and replacement of items based on the nearest holiday. As these holidays turn over fast, restocking follows the same pace, leaving companies with excess or leftover holiday merchandise.

American shoppers spent an extra 3.1 percent in retail sales from November to Christmas Eve compared to last year’s rates. The holiday season in general brought in 5.4% more retail sales and increased spending in several categories including jumps in restaurants (7.8%), apparel (2.4%) and groceries. 

While these numbers are still high, they do not beat the record breaking holiday season of 2021 where retail sales rose 12.7 percent, overall collecting a whopping $4.4 trillion. 

Shopping rates may have dropped since 2021 for a number of reasons, one of them being inflation. Prices of everything have been increasing rapidly in the past year, such as grocery items (13.5%) and apparel (5.2%). Due to this steady rise of price tags, 40% of consumers said that they would be shopping differently for holidays this year. The myriad of strategies for saving includes buying less, buying from cheaper brands, using coupons, sale shopping, making DIY gifts, secondhand gift giving and shopping sooner than they usually would. 

The question here is: How many holiday gifts do we actually keep?

Roughly 16% of merchandise that was bought in the holiday season gets returned. An estimated four in ten customers expect to return gifts as well. What then happens to the returned merchandise is up to the company, but there are only so many paths to choose from. 

The real dilemma for companies regarding returned items is whether the merchandise is worth the work of resale. All of this is based on cost. The pricier an item is, the more likely it is to be resold. If the product is worth paying for shipping, inspecting, repairing if needed and can still make a profit, then it might be considered for resale. Sometimes middleman companies take items off other companies’ shoulders. Other times, items go to thrift stores, online stores, outlet and discount stores, while others are recycled or donated. These are the best case scenarios. 

The worst case scenario —and the most common one— is that items are trashed or destroyed. There is an extremely high probability that returned items end up in a landfill. Roughly 6 billion pounds of waste are generated each year from U.S. returns. In 2021, returns accounted for $500 billion while $16 billion of gifts end up in landfills annually. 

Well-known brands such as TJ Maxx, Party City, HomeGoods, and CVS are all accountable for trashing and/or destroying merchandise. Luxury brands on the other hand are more careful with keeping their discarded merchandise out of anyone’s hands by burning unsold items.

Everything comes with a price, and the cost of overconsumption and mass production around the holidays is the environment. 

Thanksgiving produces 250 million pounds of waste through turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing alone. In fact, while the post-Thanksgiving meal may feel like it’s sending you into a food coma, the reality is that “95% of thanksgiving food waste goes to landfills,” creating astronomical amounts of carbon emissions and greenhouse gasses. 

Gift-giving holidays are worse. From item packaging and shipment boxes to receipts and gift wrap, almost all of it ends up in landfills. Because of its content, wrapping paper is rarely recyclable, forcing recycling plants to extract chemicals and ink. However, if there is tape or glitter on the paper, it’s simply unable to be recycled. Before the gift is even wrapped, it contributes to global warming through shipping and transportation. 

This leaves the question of how one can reduce their carbon footprint during the holidays. 

There are many ways to lower the amount of waste people create individually, such as buying early in order to avoid rush shipping. Buying from secondhand stores and reusing items are all helpful tactics. Avoid an overindulgence of food (especially meat) and water. Tweaking certain aspects of your holiday routine to be more sustainable is also a great way to start, whether it’s through using sustainable wrapping paper, giving sustainable gifts, sustainable decorations or gifting experiences rather than items. Gift swapping or DIY gifts are also a more personalized, ecofriendly approach. If you use a real tree for Christmas, you can replant it after the holiday has passed and continue using it for years to come. There are also cards you can send that plant trees! 

Regardless of how you go about the holidays, a sustainable approach is necessary to offset the apparent wastefulness. So as the next season approaches, remember to have a happy holiday as well as a healthy, habitable one.